Augmented Reality
by Meepyonnee
Summary: I've lived more than a thousand weeks in this world, but one in particular – just seven days of my seven thousand – turned my entire universe upside down, irrevocably painting my vision with a contradiction of red roses and white chrysanthemums. -:- Oneshot. A series of vignettes.


**Augmented Reality**

-:-:-:-:-

 _June 27_

You wouldn't believe what just happened today, my dearest _dearest_ diary! Hell, even _I_ still can't believe it!

I saw Naru today – right outside the window. He was walking down the street as if he was supposed to be here when he _wasn't_ supposed to.

If I hadn't been stuck in class then, I would've ran up to him, punched him right in his pretty face – and probably cried my eyes out.

He's been gone five years, never even contacting any of us irregulars in SPR. He really deserves a good punch or two.

But in the end, I didn't get to do any of that. My day went on like usual. School, work, home, eat, sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

-:-:-:-:-

 _June 28_

This fellow. I really couldn't understand what goes on in this guy's narcissistic head.

For some reason, in some banged up coincidence, he decided to shop in a convenience store in the middle of the night, the one that was just two blocks away from my apartment. I saw him this evening on my way home from uni (had another evening makeup class).

I went in – running – but before I could even curl my hand into a fist, he looked up and waved. He said hi, then went back to his shopping.

Well. I marched in right then and there. I demanded why he was here and why he left all of a sudden five years ago and why he never even called or even emailed or whatever. But, being the klutz that I was, I tripped on some baskets and nearly knocked over a shelf on him.

He threw the first insult. I hurled one right back. It was almost amazing how quickly we went back to our usual routine of senseless bickering. Like everything was normal.

The idiot that I was, I got riled up right away and so I walked out on him. I went straight home without looking back.

 _Idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot_

I am an idiot.

What if he disappears five more years?

What if I don't ever see him again?

-:-:-:-:-

 _June 29_

I was expecting Wifey today! Masako just got back from a shoot overseas and we planned on having a relaxing spa day.

But . . . Imagine my surprise when I opened the door and _Naru_ was standing there.

And the jerk demanded tea right away. What the hell.

I told him no, I'm not your slave anymore damn it. . . . But yeah, I made him a cup anyway.

He didn't stay long, didn't talk that much either.

The only explanation he gave me was that BSPR sent him here on a week-long business trip.

He didn't say why he was _here_. In my house.

-:-:-:-:-

 _June 30_

Naru and I somehow rode the same train this morning.

He asked me where I was going and I said to school. He wished my brain cells good luck – and in retort I yelled in indignation. Lots of groggy passengers probably glared at me then, but I never noticed because all I could see and all I could hear and all that mattered was Naru's laughter.

-:-:-:-:-

 _July 1_

I wasn't sure if I would meet Naru again today, but I had a feeling I would see him in Shibuya. I skipped my evening classes and headed straight to the cafe where the SPR office once was.

Lo and behold. There he was.

He didn't look surprised when I sat across him without asking. He said "good evening" first (my eyebrows shot up at _that_ – he was never polite with me! . . . unless he was mad) and then he just continued reading his book.

I asked what he was reading, thinking that it had something to do with his work again. He showed me the cover, though it was written in English. And while I could read it – _"Phantasmagoria"_ – I didn't really understand it because it wasn't a word I knew.

Of course, when I asked him what the word meant, he told me to go run to the nearest bookstore and but a dictionary immediately. And of course, I just yelled at him and called him a self-centered self-proclaimed narcissistic "genius".

. . . That probably wasn't the best comeback.

-:-:-:-:-

 _July 2_

Naru walked me home from work today (that's some miracle from the gods right there). I don't even know how he found out where I worked part-time because I never mentioned anything to him.

It was a long trek home, but I hardly noticed. On the way, we went through a playground where we hung out for a while. I slid down the slide and climbed through the monkey bars and had fun at the swing. Surprisingly, he humored me, even going into the fort with me where we stayed almost the entire night, just talking.

He opened up to me for the very first time, telling me about how work has been for him these days and how troublesome his students at Cambridge were.

. . . He even told me about his childhood and how he felt when he and Gene got adopted.

At the mention of Gene, an apology instantly bubbled at my lips, but before I could stutter out this whole speech I've been practicing for years, he told me about the different kinds of antics he and his brother pulled before.

All his stories were hilarious!

I laughed . . . and cried.

We finally left as dawn broke, and he walked me home as promised.

-:-:-:-:-

 _July 3_

We were together the entire day.

The. Entire. Day.

There was incessant knocking on my front door at nine in the damn morning – and when I opened the door, my heart nearly exploded. There he was, ordering me to get ready.

We had a date, he said.

A _date._

He dragged me to a diner and demanded that I eat breakfast. Well to be honest, I really hadn't processed yet what he just said – at this point I can chalk that up to lack of sleep, maybe. It wasn't after the meal that I understood what he said. I gaped at him for like 10 minutes.

He asked me where I wanted to go but before I could say anything, he said Disneyland was out of the question.

Really, I just wanted to talk to him all day again, though if I had said I wanted to go back home and just hang out there, he might get the wrong implication.

I suggested the national museum – he seemed _almost_ impressed with my choice. I expected him to know all about the exhibits there, but it turned out we both knew absolutely nothing about the artifacts.

Surprisingly, it was fun! Instead of listening to the narrations or reading the descriptions, we just debated on what kinds of ghosts we think were haunting the relics.

In the afternoon, we swung by to the Sea Life park. He told me that if he hadn't gotten into parapsychology and ghost hunting, he would have wanted to be a marine biologist.

He . . . held my hand as we toured the park. My heart was beating like crazy and I started sweating so much and my hand was all slippery so I tried letting go of his hand –

But he just held on tighter. I think my soul left my body then for a split second.

We had dinner at a ramen shop nearby. Fun fact about the great Oliver E.C. Davis aka Naru the narcissist: he couldn't handle spicy food. Also, he sucks at using chopsticks.

This time, he listened to my stories. I told him how tough my classes were, about my childhood too, and about how the other SPR members were. He seemed content just listening to me.

When . . . When the time came, we had to part ways. At my doorstep, he confessed that . . . it was his last day in Japan today and he was leaving on a plane an hour later.

He admitted that he wasn't here for a business trip. He went here just to see me again.

He ki . . . he kissed me goodbye.

His last words to me were "Happy birthday. I hope I made you happy today."

And he did. I was.

I was happy.

I was so happy that my throat closed up and my eyes stung and for some reason my chest hurt so badly that I couldn't even breathe right.

Despite wanting to know when he'd be back or if I could visit him there –

My last words to him were "I love you."

He said nothing in return – he just . . . smiled.

-:-:-:-:-

 _July 4_

I woke up to my phone ringing. I hoped it was Naru. God I hoped it was him.

The voice on the other line was from another person I haven't seen nor talked to for five long years – Madoka.

As I'm writing this entry, I'm at the Narita airport, waiting for my flight to England.

.

.

.

Naru died last week. I'm on my way to see him one last time, at his funeral.

-:-:-:-:-

* * *

 _A/N: Well anyway, I hope you... enjoyed? I don't know any more if readers would enjoy my work nowadays, since I'm so hell bent on writing tragedies lately. And oh yeah, heads up! I have another tragedy up my sleeve muhahaha. Though... I guess it's kinda fluff? I..._ think _it's fluff? (I've forgotten what fluff is wow) someone help this poor child remember_

 _Other gh fans and I had a discussion on fic clichés recently (I know you've memorized 'em already) and I thought maybe we should switch it up a bit and have Mai and Naru's roles reversed in these clichés. There were so many good ideas! (They're somewhere on my blog – rmnitb . tumblr . com) I wish some of them would become the new 'clichés'. Csakuras' brillant idea led me to write this oneshot~_

 _Anyhoo! Thank you soooooo much for reading! If you like the premise for this story, feel free to use it too! I'd love to hear whole other voices tell the tale of Naru's death *cackles*_


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